Rally is an amazing time for land conservationists to gather to learn, share ideas and inspire one another to strengthen our work to build strong communities with open space, clean air and water, sustainable food sources and natural habitats.

Rally is hosted around the country to highlight the diverse landscapes our 1,700+ land trusts work tirelessly to protect.

Friend of the Blue Ridge Mountains

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Every year, one land conservation leader is selected to receive the Land Trust Alliance’s prestigious National Conservation Service Award for making a significant contribution to the advancement of land conservation. Mr. Tommy Wyche, Esq. an indefatigable voice for the Blue Ridge Mountains for the past 40 years, was presented with the award this year at Rally: The National Land Conservation Conference in Milwaukee, WI, on October 14, 2011.

Mr. Wyche is an extraordinary individual who has spent decades tirelessly working for the protection of 90,000 acres of the Blue Ridge Escarpment in North and South Carolina. The Cherokee call the Escarpment where the Blue Ridge Mountains come to a sudden and dramatic end and drop off 2,000 feet “The Blue Wall.” It is a wonderful showcase of cliffs, gorges and waterfalls that has been recognized as a “global hot spot” for biological diversity.

In an effort to conserve this gemstone, Wyche founded the Naturaland Trust in 1972 to spearhead the effort. From Duke Power holding 50,000 acres to the Greenville Water System holding 10,000 acres – he then worked with all the landowners in that area to protect 12,000 camp site acres. By engaging the generosity of the R.K. Mellon Foundation through a challenge grant, he challenged all the entities from the power and water companies to the states of North Carolina and South Carolina. He even hired crews of high school and college students to construct trails, engaging the next generation of conservationists. Never one to rest on his laurels, Wyche has devoted the last 10 years to protecting other important missing pieces of the Blue Wall, comprising over 25,000 acres.

An avid outdoorsman, Wyche has spent two two-week backpacking trips to Alaska, one in Kenai Peninsula, one in the Brooks Range above the Arctic Circle; he has traveled on a 320-mile canoe trip with his daughter from the Atlantic Ocean up St. Mary's River, through the Okefenokee Swamp and down the Suwanee River to the Gulf of Mexico; and has made a three-week trek in Nepal, climbing to Lake TeIIicho, one of the highest lakes in the world at 15,600 feet. His is also an accomplished engineer with three patents, has designed and sponsored one of the only suspension bridges in South Carolina constructed over Raven Cliff Falls in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness, and has authored several books, including "Conserve A Legacy: Natural Lands and Waters in South Carolina." (2009). Married, with three children, Wyche resides in Greenville, SC.

And while Mr. Wyche couldn’t be at Rally, we welcomed Frank Holleman to accept the award on his behalf.

About The Land Trust Alliance

The Alliance is a national conservation organization that works in three ways to save the places people love. First, we increase the pace of conservation, so more land and natural resources get protected. Second, we enhance the quality of conservation, so the most important lands get protected using the best practices in the business. And third, we ensure the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. The Land Trust Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and has several regional offices.

Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy Receives National Land Trust Excellence Award

WASHINGTON, DC – Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy (SWMLC) has been presented with a national conservation award for its pioneering work in the land trust field in developing and implementing conservation management plans for important natural areas and setting the example for effective collaboration in conservation.

The SWMLC was selected by The Land Trust Alliance of Washington, DC, from more than 1,700 land trusts across the country, to receive its National Land Trust Excellence Award, which was presented at Rally: The National Land Conservation Conference in Hartford, Connecticut, on October 3, 2010.

SWMLC’s Stewardship staff members are recognized as both regional and national leaders in conservation management. They have developed partnerships with organizations such as the Stewardship Network, Natural Areas Association (NAA), and Defenders of Wildlife to provide workshops and seminars across the country. They have been sought after to share their expertise at numerous conferences and training events for the Land Trust Alliance, Center for Collaborative Conservation, Stewardship Network, NAA, Heart of the Lakes Center for Land Conservation Policy, and several other conservation organizations.

“Our long-term viability, and our ability to create meaningful work in perpetuity, whether it’s scenic or cultural or protecting natural landscapes, is only going to be effective if we become part of this broader community’s fabric,” said SWMLC Executive Director Pete Ter Louw, who accepted the award for the Conservancy.

SWMLC created an innovative model for prioritization that incorporates broad stakeholder involvement and geographic information systems analysis to identify areas with critical conservation values for protection and management. The long list of stakeholders involved in these projects include federal agencies, state agencies, county officials, conservation districts, township and city officials, community foundations, private conservation organizations, universities, nature centers, community leaders, and private landowners.

The Land Trust Alliance recognized the success of this model and provided SWMLC a Strategic Conservation Planning grant to use to prioritize conservation actions in and around the 25,000-acre Barry State Game Area. Implementation of the resulting plan began immediately as a private family foundation, engaged in the planning process, stepped forward to make its core mission be the protection and restoration of priority lands. The same family foundation, the USFWS, MDNRE, Ducks Unlimited, and SWMLC have begun a long-term relationship coordinating restoration management between adjacent but separately held parcels in the same region. These partners also brought together several additional conservation organizations to receive a $1 million North American Wetland Conservation Act grant.

Rand Wentworth, President of the Land Trust Alliance, said in bestowing the award that “As a direct result of their willingness to seek out regional expertise, intergovernmental cooperation, and coordination with all of the regional members and the neighbors, the SWMLC has been able to make incredible conservation happen.” He added, “Together with fellow consevationists, the members of the SWMLC have found an effective way to preserve the quality of life and unique character of their community — now and forever."

About The Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy (SWMLC)SWMLC was founded in 1991 to protect the wild and scenic areas in the nine counties of southwestMichigan. The 3.5 million acre service area, covering an expanse the size of Connecticut, is a crossroads of ecological regions. Eastern deciduous forests meet the Midwest prairies while southern mesic woodlands border northern coniferous forests and bogs. Large river systems wind throughout the countryside on their way to Lake Michigan and the largest freshwater dunes in the world. It is home to rural farms, urban centers, Great Lakes shoreline destinations, and Michigan’s largest State Game Areas – all within a short drive from Chicago, Indianapolis, and Detroit. Visit www.swmlc.org.

About The Land Trust AllianceThe Alliance is a national conservation organization that works in three ways to save the places people love. First, we increase the pace of conservation, so more land and natural resources get protected. Second, we enhance the quality of conservation, so the most important lands get protected using the best practices in the business. And third, we ensure the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. The Land Trust Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and has several regional offices. Visit www.landtrustalliance.org.

Excellence in Collaboration For Impacting Whole Landscapes

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Scenic Hudson has been presented with a national conservation award for its pioneering work in the land trust field in developing and implementing collaborative conservation management plans for important natural landscapes.

Scenic Hudson was selected by the Land Trust Alliance of Washington, D.C., from more than 1,700 land trusts across the country, to receive its National Land Trust Excellence Award, which was presented at Rally: The National Land Conservation Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on October 14, 2011.

Scenic Hudson is an impactful environmental organization and land trust working in New York’s Hudson River Valley to protect and restore the Hudson River and its majestic landscape. A crusader for the valley since 1963, Scenic Hudson is credited with saving the beautiful Storm King Mountain from a destructive industrial project and helping to launch the modern environmental movement.

“Scenic Hudson was born of the passion of people who loved the place and said ‘no’ to destruction of an icon and of a sacred mountain,” said Rand Wentworth, president of the Land Trust Alliance. “We presented this award because of Scenic Hudson’s breadth of vision and their accomplishment. They have embraced the concept of large landscapes, have been a model partner in engaging with diverse communities, people of color and other nonprofits. They have put their money and efforts in doing their work where people live for healthy communities.”

Having conserved almost 28,000 acres of lands that contribute to the scenic fabric, ecological integrity and agricultural viability of the Hudson River Valley, Scenic Hudson has a long and distinguished track record of collaborative conservation -- designing a model for conservation easements and establishing a collaborative process. The tangible outcomes resulting from this process helped spur several municipalities to create their own farmland protection programs and funding streams. Scenic Hudson has collaborated with several of these communities to conserve farms that are shared priorities.

Scenic Hudson has contributed to a spirit of collaboration and information-sharing between the land trusts of the Hudson Valley. This has occurred at an especially critical time because of the economic downturn and the stress that many nonprofit land trusts are feeling. In 2007, Scenic Hudson carried out a strategic land conservation plan, using geographic information systems technology, to identify the most critical scenic, ecological and agricultural resources in the Hudson River corridor. The result of this analysis was the identification of 65,000 acres of land of the utmost conservation priority. Scenic Hudson then launched a collaborative land conservation campaign, which it calls Saving the Land That Matters Most, to increase the pace and impact of their work.

It engaged in this campaign with 15 partner land trusts and conservation organizations, including county and local land trusts, regional and national conservation organizations. The groups meet several times a year to update each other on progress in meeting shared goals, and to identify ways to collaborate further. Today, Scenic Hudson is further partnering with state conservation agencies on the pursuit of shared conservation goals for the region.

“I look at Scenic Hudson and I think: What would I aspire for any of us in land conservation to do? Working in cities, working with diverse populations, working with great partners, bringing farm-to-table, connecting the agriculture communities with the urban communities; Scenic Hudson is doing all of that,” said Wentworth.

When presented with the award, Steve Rosenberg, senior vice president; executive director of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust, Inc. said: Our mission will always outstrip our means …so to be mission driven and outcome oriented, there’s no room for thinking we can do this without a strategic framework and without the support of others.” Rosenberg added, “We are fortunate to have so many committed partners working with us. As we continue our work, we are beginning to see the puzzle pieces come together to reveal a picture of regional, landscape-scale conservation, and the public increasingly understands and supports our work.”

About The Land Trust Alliance

The Land Trust Alliance is a national conservation organization that works in three ways to save the places people love. First, we increase the pace of conservation, so more land and natural resources get protected. Second, we enhance the quality of conservation, so the most important lands get protected using the best practices in the business. And third, we ensure the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. The Land Trust Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and has several regional offices.